one for one

I've yet to meet someone that wouldn't fly with me out of fear, including people that have never flown in a small plane before and were initially apprehensive. Even as a new PPL.

I've only taken people up just "to go flying" maybe a couple times when I was a new PPL. My passengers are there to accompany me on a trip to go someplace where flying is the most convenient way to get there.
 
MBDiagMan said:
Yeah, but that's not a plane, it's a water tower..... Isn't it?
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Actually, despite the orange and white checkers being starkly visible up close, once the plane was in the air and more than a mile away you could no longer really discern the checkers at first glance... the plane then just looked kinda beige overall in color. Hard to believe that until you saw the effect in person, but that's the way it really was.
 
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Sac Arrow said:
I've yet to meet someone that wouldn't fly with me out of fear, including people that have never flown in a small plane before and were initially apprehensive. .
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I've only had one or two that wouldn't go out of fear. One admits she would love to go but is just too afraid. Conversely, she drives like a bat out of hell and I am terrified to ride in a car she's driving. This girl has a lot of other irrational fear issues though. Including ghosts.
 
Before I earned my PPL, I thought everything was so hard to get that anyone with a PPL was well trained. After getting my PPL, I have flown with some other guys that got their ticket around the same time as me. Durring training they were doing everything as they were supposed to. After training was done, they got off track fast. I am now feeling very unsafe next to one of the guys. I used to fly a lot with him and I have made the decision to not ride with him anymore.

I guess what I am trying to say is there really is reason to question any pilots abilities. I think the most notable question for a passenger at least myself is when did you fly last or how many hours have you flown in the past week or two. I personally wont be flying with anyone that hasn't landed a plane in over 2 weeks. (lesson learned)
 
I've met folks who didn't want to fly, though surprisingly I've not met any who didn't want to fly with me in particular. I always start out with "small airplanes are dangerous", use like when I say motorcycles are dangerous. That said, no one has died in my kind of airplane in my locality in decades, and I'm not going to break that trend.

Lots of folks have died on my kind of motorcycle. It really is dangerous. Fun too.
 
JasonM said:
I personally wont be flying with anyone that hasn't landed a plane in over 2 weeks. (lesson learned)
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Currency is key but the more experience you have, the easier it is to knock off the rust each time you go up.
 
kgruber said:
It is kind of like asking is he want's a ride on the back of your motorcycle. Same statistics.
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That's the great thing about statistics, it all depends on how you look it.

While the statistic is accurate...
A 45 minute simple sightseeing flight above 1000ft agl probably has about the same risk as riding the motorcycle down a deserted country road at 35mph while wearing helmets.

Now if you want to fly at 200 feet in bad weather it is probably more dangerous than the motorcycle.
The point being for both motorcycles and airplanes the operator/pilot can greatly improve or worsen the odds on a specific ride/flight.

We all have our fears, some people it is flying, others it is snakes, etc.

Brian
 
Alexb2000 said:
This is all just part of the human condition. We were all once afraid to stand up, ride a bike, etc. When we are motivated we can overcome those fears to the point that it's just another day at the office. Take someone new to a climbing gym, they get 20-30' in the air, run out of strength and fall off. The first time they are trying to hold on for dear life, after a few times it's just part of the fun.

My favorite is the picture of the 1930's iron workers in NY eating lunch on an I-beam hundreds of feet up, that always gets people.

This one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_atop_a_Skyscraper
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-nTcslBXpA&feature=share
I also never had any problem skydiving , but there is no way I could walk on this trail .:nonod:
 
Speaking of "fear of heights" a couple years ago was at Coney Island (in Jersey) and went on the wonder wheel with my sister. We went on the outside ring - where it moves and sways. It went up a bit and I enjoyed the view, until the car slid down the rail (as designed) I SCREAMED. My sister said "Oh is it more fun that way?" I said I dunno...I don't like this very much. She said "What's the problem don't you like being in a closed box, just like your airplane" I thought about it and realized it's the lack of control I had no idea what it was going to do and I had no control over it's action. So when it *slid* down the rail 3 more times on the first lap I just closed my eyes and wished the ride to be over. When we got to the bottom the operator said "Don't worry it only goes around one more time" that was the longest circle E_V_E_R!
 
saracelica said:
Speaking of "fear of heights" a couple years ago was at Coney Island (in Jersey) and went on the wonder wheel with my sister.
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When I look at who is assembling and operating those rides, you better believe I'm scared too.
 
Wonder Wheel has been there for over 100 years. Or at least was before the Hurricane came through,not sure if Coney Island survived the last storm.
 
saracelica said:
Speaking of "fear of heights" a couple years ago was at Coney Island (in Jersey) and went on the wonder wheel with my sister. We went on the outside ring - where it moves and sways. It went up a bit and I enjoyed the view, until the car slid down the rail (as designed) I SCREAMED. My sister said "Oh is it more fun that way?" I said I dunno...I don't like this very much. She said "What's the problem don't you like being in a closed box, just like your airplane" I thought about it and realized it's the lack of control I had no idea what it was going to do and I had no control over it's action. So when it *slid* down the rail 3 more times on the first lap I just closed my eyes and wished the ride to be over. When we got to the bottom the operator said "Don't worry it only goes around one more time" that was the longest circle E_V_E_R!
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exactly why I don't like rollercoasters

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
OK, so things just got a little interesting. Monday is MLK day and I have off. A buddy asked if I wanted to go golfing, and I asked him if he wanted to go flying. He immediately replied "let's fly somewhere and play a decent course". Uh, OK! So we got a tee time in Pinehurst and will be flying there in the morning. I can't wait! I'm nervous! But I have the plane booked tomorrow evening just for some practice laps, I'll feel better after that.
 
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